“No.” My head shot up. “Not yet.”
Clarence smiled sadly. “There are people waiting for you, Miss Fitt.”
“Jie,” Elijah reminded. “Joseph, Oliver—”
“Oliver is gone,” I snapped. “I broke our bond, and he left me.”
“Oh, El.” Elijah knelt beside me, his hand cupping my elbow. “Oliver came back.”
I blinked—and then blinked again. But Elijah’s face held no deception, and when I glanced at Clarence, he was motioning behind me.
“Look,” Clarence said. “Your demon has returned, and he has brought you an army.”
I whirled around.
And a cry writhed in my throat. The curtain was only twenty paces away, and though a battle raged beyond the golden glow, Oliver stood at the forefront.
He punched against the curtain, a noiseless scream erupting from his mouth. Again and again he tried to heave his way through the obelisk.
And tucked into his belt was a set of ivory clappers—they were smaller and less ornate than the ones I had carried. But they were clappers all the same, and the army that raged behind him was one of lithe mummies with swords.
Oliver had summoned the queens’ guards.
“Go to him,” Elijah whispered. “Go back and save those who remain.”
I nodded, and with the power of my own arms and my own legs, I rose. I tipped my chin high and drew my shoulders back, and I inhaled.
But when I turned to say good-bye to Elijah and Clarence, they were gone.
And in their places were a jackal.
And an ibis.
I started. Then panic set in. “No. No. If you have lied about Daniel’s soul—if this was all a trick to—”
The jackal and ibis have not lied, they said together.
“But . . .” A sob shivered over my lips. “My brother? Clarence? Were they ever really here?”
No response came, and behind me, the sounds of battle raged.
Retrieve the clappers, the Annunaki said. Return them here.
Teeth clenching back tears, I glanced into the earthly realm. To Oliver’s bloodless face—to his palms beating against the obelisk. Then I flung my eyes back to the gods. “I will do this, but not for you or your goddamned balance. What I do is for me. And what I do is for Daniel—the one you took away from me. The one I can never have back.”
Then I twisted toward the curtain.
And I marched ahead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The battle thundered over me. In the space of a gasping breath, my eyes took in everything: clashing swords, hammering feet, and Jie’s wailing sobs. The queens’ guards swirled their swords faster than my eyes could follow.
But they were severely outnumbered.
I stumbled into Oliver. His face was flushed with relief, but I spared him no words, only a nod of soul-deep thanks before I staggered the two steps to Daniel.
His body was already stiffening. His lips blue. The blood on his chest was brown and congealed. And his head stayed on Jie’s lap as she continued to rock back and forth, screaming for him to wake up.
I couldn’t watch. Instead, I honed in on Jie’s face. On her weeping eyes.
“Where’s Joseph?” I shouted.
No response—I wasn’t even sure she heard.
But Oliver did. “Marcus has him.” He motioned into the fighting guards. “He collapsed right before I arrived, and Marcus reached him before I could.”
“I have to get him.” I swooped down and hefted my sword off the blood-covered sand. Daniel had died to protect Joseph; I would not let that sacrifice be for nothing. “You stay here and keep Jie safe.”
“No.” Oliver yanked the clappers from his belt. “I will get us through.” He thrust the ivory toward the attacking queens’ guards. Then he snagged my sleeve and yanked me onward.
The queens’ guards opened a path.
And we stepped into the battle.
Imperial spears stabbed at us; queens’ swords arced up. Tattered arms and shriveled skin blurred. It was an endless roar of slamming bodies and clanking weapons. Each step brought bronze armor and spear tips into my face, but always, swords would streak up and sling away the attacks.
On and on we moved, until I finally caught sight of Marcus. Just as he had done in Philadelphia all those months ago, he had Joseph by the collar, and he dragged. Joseph’s feet left two long trails in the sand. His eyes were closed.
I couldn’t tell if he was still alive. It didn’t matter; I was coming for him.
But the queens’ guards weren’t fast enough for me.
I shoved into the fray alone. I thrust and parried and screamed at the mummies to sleep. My magic blazed over my sword, blue and brilliant, and Oliver’s power scorched around me. Each mummy I met blasted back, briefly frozen. Each spear I hit snapped beneath the fury of my blade and my magic.
Until we finally reached the edge of the battlefield. Mummies gave chase, but Oliver’s magic and the queens’ guards kept them at bay.
I lurched into a run. Marcus was almost to his balloon two hundred paces away. He was almost to the boulder on which it was fastened.